BICOM

A cartoon in a leading Israeli daily last September – shortly after the end of the Gaza conflict in which 4500 rockets had been fired at Israel – depicted one person saying to his friend “Are you thinking of getting away to Europe for the holidays?”, and his friend responding, “No way, too dangerous.”

The context at the time was the wave of anti-Israel demonstrations – dominated by Islamic and left wing activists – triggered in European cities by the military conflict between Israel and Hamas. This included in Britain, targeting supermarkets selling Kosher produce, and in France, angry and violent demonstrations outside synagogues.

But the cartoon tapped into a deeper perception among Israelis, that Europe is a not a safe place for Jews. This perception was reinforced once again by the targeting of a Kosher supermarket by the Islamist cell that attacked Paris in the last few days, and the brutal murder of four innocent Jewish shoppers.

When Israelis look at these events in Europe, their view is inevitably coloured by the history of Jews there, and the fact that the idea of a modern Jewish state was created in Europe as an answer to antisemitism.

Read the article in full at the International Business Times.